We also targeted blue catfish after chasing paddlefish all morning.









Hired a boat captain to do a fishing excursion on Lake of the Ozarks on 12 April. The target species were the very unusual paddlefish and blue catfish and we did pretty well. The prehistoric looking paddlefish are plankton feeders and are thus snagged. These fish are stocked in the impoundment lakes here since they can no longer travel the original routes to spawn upstream. Paddlefish are similar to sharks, they do not have a bony skeleton.

For the afternoon catfishing our captain took us net casting for shad as catfish bait. We had a true fisherman for our trip. The largest two paddlefish are females and one was near 50 pounds. Largest weight on cats was 12 pounds.

There is a fair amount of trimming to remove a mud line on the paddlefish but if trimmed right you have some really tasty thick filets for your freezer. In all we had a really nice day at a reasonable price. Four of us for $550 on the boat, resident fishing license is $12.

quote:

we did pretty well

I would say that is an understatement. What a trip.

I'm going catfishing on Lake Tawakoni next month. https://whiskerfishing.com/ I can't imagine topping your trip.

Congrats

Sounds like an absolute hoot, Ann. Glad you did so well.

The older I get the more I enjoy fishing. Granted snagging isn't really a traditional method but it was still fun pulling something in that big.

Good luck, Ken, hope you do well on your trip.

I have another fishing trip prior to that. Lake Baccarac in Mexico. https://www.lakebaccaraclodge.com/about-us/ I'm looking forward to that one also. I fished that reservoir forty-one years ago. It even went by a different name then. "Presa Gustavo Diaz Ordaz" back in the day. (Probably most gringos couldn't pronounce it, so they came up with another.)

There is a lot of truth in that Tim McGraw song. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9TShlMkQnc

Got back from Lake Tawakoni (Texas) catfishing. Two of us went. The limit was 50 and we caught 50, by noon. Nothing big; eater size. https://whiskerfishing.com/ I good trip to take your kids or grandkids on.

That will make for a great fish fry.